Red Sox Notes: Gonzalez, Buck, Matsuzaka

When the Red Sox acquired Adrian Gonzalez three months ago, he was recovering from shoulder surgery and wasn't a lock to be ready for Opening Day. Yesterday, having not experienced any setbacks, Gonzalez played in his first game of the spring, a strong sign that his rehab has been a success. Speaking to reporters today, the slugger suggested he doesn't expect his health to be an issue this season. In fact, he wants to play in all 162 games, writes Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

"I'm a first baseman," said Gonzalez. "How much energy do you really put out there? I don't steal bases. I don’t run fast. I play first base. As long as my legs can take it, I'm good."

More Sox-related links:

In a separate column for WEEI, Speier looks back at the other trade involving Gonzalez, one that helped the Marlins win the 2003 World Series.

John Buck was keeping an eye on Victor Martinez and the Red Sox this winter, according to Speier. Alhough contract talks with the Sox never got serious, Buck was intrigued by the possibility of replacing V-Mart behind the plate in Boston: "Who doesn’t want to play for the Red Sox? Being a kind of historian of baseball, regardless of all the money and all that other stuff, it would just be a cool place to play."

Did I miss something? It seems to me that the last link far from clarifies Boston’s starting rotation — indeed, it muddies it with talk of stretching out Aceves, and Francona’s “really liking him”. I was more confident that I knew what the rotation would be (Lester 1st, Buchholz 2nd is hardly a surprise) before that article than I am now.

the change they’re making now isn’t actually a new idea; they have tried to get him to adopt this training routine from day one and he has refused until now. credit curt young for getting through to him